Danny Fenton, Substitute Soul Reaper
by Ciestess
Summary: A self-explanatory request from an Anon on Tumblr: Danny becomes a substitute soul reaper.
1. Whatever Lies Beyond

"_Dear Daniel,_

_There is something I need your help to accomplish. Please go through the door you'll find at the location written below. Make sure you are in your human form._

_Thank you for your continued assistance._

_Clockwork_

_P.S. Make sure you pay Ghost Writer a visit first, or things could get especially confusing. He'll be expecting you."_

_.~*~._

"... Well that's not a door you see everyday."  
Danny had, of course, done as Clockwork asked. (Did he really have a choice?)

Ghost Writer had just done… something? to him - some sort of spell, he thought - and sent him on his way. And this door(?) had appeared right after he arrived at the location - which was so far away, it had come with instructions on which OTHER portals to fly through in order to _reach _it!

… It looked like an unzipped zipper - or a mouth.

'*sigh*_I could spend all day floating here, or just get this over with.'_  
Prepared for whatever was beyond the portal - which could be literally anything - Danny flew through.

… He was not prepared to find a man bleeding out inside a cave.  
More than that, the air there felt… _weird_. Similar to being in the Ghost Zone, but more… raw? Wild?  
… Desperate. Sad, even.

The man had auburn hair, was dressed in some kind of robe and fur cape, was holding a katana, and was bleeding from what was _definitely _a fatal wound to his side. He was still conscious, judging by his wincing and shivering, but his eyes were closed in a grimace.  
He had a death grip on that katana.

Danny and the man jumped - _something _just screamed from outside the cave.  
Which meant the man noticed him.

He raised the katana slightly (he didn't seem capable of raising it much further) and glared at Danny suspiciously.  
"Who are you? How'd you get here?" Although Danny understood what he'd said, the man was not speaking English.  
'_Oh. So that's what he did. Thanks, Writer.'__  
_"I'm Danny. I came in through-" He turned to gesture to the portal - and it closed. "... Well, crud."

There was a moment of silence as the man considered him. He looked scared, but not of Danny. Then,  
"... How… old are you… ?"  
"Uh, sixteen. Why?"  
He winced. "So young… But." The man looked even more pained than before. He shifted to sit up straighter. "I suppose I don't have a choice. Listen, boy-"  
"Danny."  
"Danny. Do you want to live?"

"Uuuuh…" Danny broke eye contact nervously. The screams came from outside again; they were closer.  
He seemed to misunderstand Danny's hesitation ('_Although, it's not like he could guess.'_), "Well?!"  
"Yessir!"  
"Then… come here."

As Danny walked closer to him, the man, using the last of his strength, lifted his katana in front of him - and pointed it at Danny. It wasn't exactly threatening, but it still made Danny a little nervous.  
"I don't have time to explain completely, but… I can give you half of my power. It will only be temporary, and it might kill you. But right now it's your only chance of making it out of here."  
"Listen, I don't nee-"  
"Grab the end of the sword!"  
"Right!" Danny yelped.

Carefully, Danny grabbed the blade of the katana.  
"In order to pass my powers on to you, you'll have to run the zanpakutō through to the center of your being. Place it over your heart."

'_Clockwork, you better know what you're doing.'_  
He did as the man said - and placed the tip of the blade in front of his core.

"You said your name is Danny?"  
He nodded, "Danny Fenton."  
The man locked eyes with him. "Danny Fenton. I am… Ashido Kanō."  
And Ashido ran him through.

It took immense self-control for Danny not to turn intangible, at first. Then-

It couldn't have been more different from the portal incident. Aside from the initial pain, it didn't hurt at all. There was just a rush of energy, and suddenly he was in his ghost form.  
Except he… had a sword? And was wearing the same kind of robes as the- as Ashido.

"Wh-?" Ashido looked very confused. "All my power…"  
Danny blinked at him. His outfit had changed. His robes were completely white now, and there seemed to be less of them.  
… _Had he stolen the guy's clothes?_

"You… aren't human."  
Danny rubbed the back of his neck.  
"Uh, no. That's… what I was trying to tell you."  
"..." Ashido's eyes lit up. He thought for a moment. "Danny… _*cough*_!"  
"Woah!" Danny rushed forward as Ashido collapsed.

"Not much time…" Ashido looked up and locked eyes with him again. "If you make it out of here… There's a group of friends. They're trying to save someone, but… The beings they're up against… are far more powerful than what you'll face outside this cave."

Ashido grabbed his collar. "Please… I know you have no reason to, but… Please… Help them… Like they helped me. So that, maybe…" Ashido's eyes lost their focus, and his grip loosened. "I'll have repaid them… in some way…"  
Ashido collapsed after that.

'_... He's… dead…'_

Carefully, his hands shaking, Danny lowered Ashido's body.  
The screams were right outside the cave entrance now.

"Jeez… You didn't need to ask. Of course I'll help them." His voice shook - he was crying. "That's the whole reason I'm here!"

Turning to the world outside the cave, Danny prepared himself for whatever was beyond it - which could be literally anything-

-and flew through.

* * *

**EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT!  
"Halloween SOSW"**

Halloween is approaching, and I want to do something special. So I'm trying out what I'm calling "Special One-Shot Wednesdays" or **SOS**Ws (_pun very intended_).  
If you have any ideas you want to see me write for the Spoopy Season that you don't think will make it into a normal OSW, or **any ideas you don't think will make it into the OSWs at all**, send them in for an **SOS**W.

I will include as many ideas as I can.  
**NO LIMITS. GO WILD. **_**Make my life a living hell. Give me your most obscure, forgotten, no-content fandom; your "no one will ever vote for this" request!**  
**GIVE ME ALL THE SPOOPIES!**  
_And it will be my personal challenge to write something even remotely coherent that _honors each and every request_.

Will I succeed? We'll see. _Will I get any SOSW requests at all? GOD I HOPE SO._

You can send the SOSW requests through the normal channels (make sure to say it's for the SOSW), OR I have a spot on the current poll you can type it into. Either works.

Ok, back to the normal AN!

* * *

This is part of my "One-Shot Wednesday" project - I'm trying to write a one-shot every week that other people have requested! Original Requests one week, and Fanfic Requests the next.  
(Only Fanfic OSWs are posted on this site, however.)

To **vote for the next OSW**, go to my Tumblr ("CiestessDE"), Twitter ("Ciestess"), or my website (crossroadofinfinity. com) to find the current poll!

While I will try to keep track of all the requests I receive _regardless_ of how they're sent, you should send Fanfic Requests through the pinned tweet on my Twitter ("Ciestess"), and Original Requests through either my email (CiestessDE *at* gmail . com) or my P atreon (if you're a patron) if you want to make sure I see them.

Just about everything goes - I'll tell you if there's a problem. But **if you want to know more about how they work**, you can read about Original OSWs on my website (crossroadofinfinity. "com/" 2019/07/07/how-it-works/), and Fanfic OSWs in my profile.

So please send me ALL the ideas! I will make sure to recognize whoever's idea/request it was in the work – just ask if you want to remain anonymous.

And if you liked this, please **SHARE** it!


	2. Chapter 2

"_... __our blades will not shatter! Have faith… that our hearts will not waver! And even if our paths should diverge…"__  
_Danny could hear a voice coming from further inside the tunnel.

He'd defeated all the… _whatever _those things were - then found the exit as quickly as possible. Then he'd flown straight up to try and spot anyone in this giant desert, and this castle-place was the only thing he could see.  
Ashido had said the "friends" he was supposed to help were there to rescue someone - so the hole in the wall seemed promising.

"_... we all share a heart of iron! Swear… that even if the ground beneath us should be rent asunder…"__  
_Finally, he made it to them.  
It was an odd group - but it's not like ghosts were known for being "normal."

A guy with super-spiky red hair, another guy with spiky _orange _hair, a really tall and muscular dude, a nerdy-looking guy in glasses - and one girl._  
_"_we will… live-"_

"'Live'? That might be kind of difficult, don't you think? Since we're already dead, I mean."

"What the-!"  
Spiky-Red stopped his… _whatever _he was doing - and they all were pointing weapons at him before he could even blink. _How did they move so fast?!  
_Spiky-Red, Spiky-Orange, and The Girl pointed swords at him, Muscles just held up his fists, and an energy-bow had appeared in Glasses' hands - arrow aimed at Danny's core.

"Whoa, easy! I'm on _your _side!" He said, holding his hands up in surrender.  
"Who are you?! Identify yourself!" screamed The Girl.  
"Danny! I'm just Danny- Danny Phantom!"

Spiky-Orange grumbled, "What kind of name is 'Danny Phantom'?"  
Danny turned to him, eyebrow raised, "At least it's better than 'Inviso-Bill'."

All-business, The Girl demanded, "What are you doing here?"  
Floating to the ground, Danny replied, "Ashido Kanō sent me."

"_Ashido_…?"  
One-by-one, they lowered their weapons.  
And at the look on Danny's face, Glasses asked hesitantly, "What… happened?"

Danny told them what he knew - which wasn't much, but it was enough.

"But we only just left him!" Spiky-Orange screamed.  
"That's the life of a warrior," said Spiky-Red, solemnly, "One must always be ready to die at any moment."

The friends stood in silence.

Glasses looked up at him, "So… you're a substitute soul reaper now, but you said you're not human. What are you, then?"  
"Uh, well…" Danny rubbed his neck nervously, "Technically I _am _half human…"

"..."  
… Their staring was starting to make Danny uncomfortable.

He choked out, "I'm also, uh… half ghost."

"... What's that supposed to mean?" grumbled Spiky-Orange.

The Girl looked especially confused - like she was trying to work out a difficult math problem.  
"So, what… you're a Whole that was living inside a gigai? Or something?" she asked.

"... Huh?" It was Danny's turn to be confused. "Um… maybe it'd be easier to just show you."

He transformed back into a human - to the EXTREME confusion of everyone present!  
"What… the _HELL_?!" exclaimed Spiky-Red.  
The Girl looked like she'd had a breakthrough, though, "He must be one of Aizen's experiments…"

Danny changed back - the air there was even more uncomfortable in his human form.

Without warning, something landed on Danny's head, grabbing his hair.  
"How are you glowing, Bill?! Tell Nel!"  
"GAH!"

"EEP! -oof."

On instinct, Danny had turned intangible.  
"Ow! Hey, what are you doing, Bill, throwing Nel on the floor! If you're gonna throw Nel, throw Nel like you _mean _it!"

Danny: "o.O"  
Spiky-Orange: "-_-"

"Where did you guys go?" asked Glasses.  
"Nel" turned out to be a little girl wearing a mask on her head. She and two guys - one looked like he was cosplaying as a bug (... A bug in a loincloth?) and the other looked like a living tiki mask - had appeared out of nowhere!  
"Nel and her brothers felt a _reeeaaally _weird spiritual pressure coming, so we hid!"  
Her brothers nodded, going "Yeah" and "Of course."

Looking EXTRA done at this turn of events, Spiky-Orange growled, "Whatever. Look, **we don't have time for this!**"  
He pointed at Danny, "Whoever you are doesn't matter! I'm not draggin' anyone into this who isn't involved!"

"Hey!" Nel broke in, "Nel isn't involved, and she's helping Ichigo!"  
"Exactly," He said, deadpan, then suddenly condescendingly addressed Danny, "Hey, there you go! You can help by watching Nel!"

"-Wait…" The Girl interrupted, asking Nel and her brothers, "You could feel Danny coming?"  
"Yeah," Nel nodded, shivering, "Bill feels really weird to Nel. Like a Soul Reaper, but also… something else."  
Bug added, "It kinda feels like… Like a normal soul, but… squirmy? You guys really can't feel it?"

The group of friends went quiet.  
"I feel… something. I think," said Spiky-Orange.

"What the hell…!" Glasses was shivering and shaking - he looked scared.  
"Uryu?" Spiky-Orange looked at him in concern, then glanced at Muscles - who was sweating nervously.  
For the first time since Danny got there, Muscles spoke.

"**He feels… like Death…**"

"..."

"So, wait…" Spiky-Red said, "The humans and hollows can feel him, but we can't? Why?"  
Now the staring was _really _making Danny nervous.

* * *

Remember, if you want more of this, **vote for the next OSW** by going to my Tumblr ("CiestessDE"), Twitter ("Ciestess"), or my website (crossroadofinfinity. com) to find the current poll!

_(The Halloween SOSW is still taking requests as well, so be sure to send those in if you have anything you want to add to make it even crazier!)_

And if you like my stuff, please **SHARE **it!


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